The award will further their cutting-edge research.

Both scholars will receive funding for a semester-long sabbatical. "Such leaves can increase creativity and provide intellectual stimulation," the Simons Foundation, based in New York, says on its website.

Ruberman will be investigating topology and gauge theory. In the upcoming academic year, he will be a visiting scholar at the University of Pisa in Italy and then at Stanford University.

Headrick's research focuses on quantum gravity, quantum field theory and quantum information theory. The grant will enable him to stretch his sabbatical at MIT an additional semester in the 2017-18 academic year.

Last year, Headrick was part of a consortium of researchers who received funding from the Simons Foundation to pursue fundamental research in physics and quantum information theory.